


Ghosts Aren't Real

by Cio



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 05:38:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4948711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cio/pseuds/Cio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takumi is afraid of ghosts. The royal sisters decide to use this to their advantage.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ghosts Aren't Real

**Author's Note:**

> Looking back, this one's kind of bad, but oh well lmao

Four sets of eyes peeped out the upper bedroom window, watching the blond prince standing alone in the training area outside. Soon enough, Takumi walked outside and the two stood around awkwardly. After a while of silence, the two began to talk, before Leo and Takumi began sparring with each other.

“Success!” Hinoka cried out, stepping away from the window.

Camilla, Elise, and Sakura moved away from the window as well when they finally saw what they needed to see. The four princesses had devoted most of their time over the past few weeks trying to get Leo and Takumi together, or at least have the two princes spend more time with each other. It all started when both Camilla and Hinoka told their younger brothers that the two were extremely similar, which both Leo and Takumi vehemently denied. This, however, only strengthened the notion that they were indeed soul mates, causing the two older sisters to discuss what Leo and Takumi would do in their free together time if the two were actually older. Elise and Sakura happened to be around and heard Camilla and Hinoka discussing their brothers as a couple, causing the two younger girls to join in. 

Eventually the four decided to turn their thoughts and imaginations into reality. They would do simple things, like getting Leo and Takumi to sit next to each other at the dining table during dinner, just to watch the two princes interact. Today, both Hinoka and Camilla went up to their respective little brothers and requested to spar with the each of them. Both younger brothers were stood up, though, by their older sisters and it just so happened to be around the same time for the both of them. Since they were already there together, Leo and Takumi had just decided to train with each other for the day.

“Oh, look! Leo just tripped!” Elise exclaimed, pointing out the window.

Camilla, Sakura, and Hinoka returned to the window to see Takumi offering his hand to help Leo back on his feet. When the blond had recovered, Takumi went over to where Leo’s tiara had fallen when the Nohrian prince tripped. The archer picked the headpiece off the ground and placed it back on Leo’s head, fixing the blond hair for his partner.

“They’re so adorable,” Camilla mused. “Takumi is such a gentleman. Leo needs someone like him.”

“We need to start thinking of our next plan to get them together,” Hinoka suggested to the other three. “Any ideas?”

The other three shook their heads, until Sakura decided to speak up. “Well, I think this is kind of mean, but is Takumi still afraid of ghosts?”

“Um, I’m not sure if he ever grew out of it,” Hinoka shrugged. “Why?”

“W-Well,” Sakura stuttered, “I mean, maybe we can, um, scare Takumi into Leo’s arms, or something. I don’t know.”

Elise immediately perked up when she heard the idea. “Oooh! I want to be the ghost!”

Hinoka bit her bottom lip as she thought about the plan. “Hm, it’d probably be difficult to pull off.”

“I’m sure we can do it,” Camilla said to the others. “I kind of have an idea on how to go about this.”

Hinoka looked at her expectingly. “Then let’s hear it.

—

Takumi drowsily rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed when he heard the incessant knocking at his door. Normally, he wouldn’t have been so bothered, but the fact it was still only a few hours past midnight made the disturbance quite annoying.

“Who is it?” Takumi cried out sleepily. When there was no response, the Hoshidian Prince slid out of bed and dragged himself over to the door. To his surprise, there was no one there when he opened the door.

Takumi took a few glances down both ends of the dark hallway, shrugging to himself when he saw nobody. He shut the door behind him and hopped back into bed, but right before he could close his eyes, the knocking came again. 

“Ugh, why?!” Takumi groaned irritatedly, moving out of his bed again. 

Like before, there was no one at his door. However, one end of the dark hallway was illuminated by two candles near the staircase. 

Takumi breathed nervously, looking down the hallway. The candles gave the walls an eerie glow, the shadow of the flames dancing across the surface. The young prince crept out of his room and went over to the top of the staircase where the candles were lit. He quickly moved to blow the fiery wisps out, until he felt something at the bottom of his bare foot. Looking down, Takumi picked up the object he had stepped on. It was a small slip of paper, words scrawled on in messy handwriting, the note stained with red.

“Look down,” Takumi whispered to himself, looking over the note. The prince glanced downwards where he picked up the note, but there was nothing else of interest. 

Confused, Takumi was ready to just walk back to his room, unpleasant vibes of the area filling his head, until he got the idea to look over the staircase and down at the first floor. Swallowing nervously, Takumi made his way over to the edge and looked down at the ground.

Placed on the ground looked to be some kind of gown, though it was hard to make out the details because of how dark it was at the bottom. Part of Takumi screamed for him to go back into his bedroom and snuggle up in his comfy bed, but another part urged him to investigate, despite the eerie feeling of the situation. 

Inhaling deeply, the prince quickly made his way down the staircase, being light on his feet to keep himself from creating a sound, and hurrying over to the gown. When he finally reached the bottom, Takumi was able to get a good look at the piece of clothing from a distance. It was a nightgown and he had seen it several times. The nightgown belonged to Hinoka and she had worn it plenty of times. 

Upon closer inspection, Takumi noticed that something was different. The nightgown was torn and ripped in several places, red blotches covering several spots on the garment, staining the white fabric. It was then that Takumi realized the red on the dress matched the red on the note.

“Hinoka, this better be some sick joke,” he breathed, the hairs at the back of his neck standing at end.

Suddenly, a high-pitched giggle could be heard from the hallway located on the bottom floor. The laugh sounded extremely similar to Sakura’s, but the laugh was hollow, almost sinister. The sound was then followed by the sharp noise of a door being slammed shut, also from the hallway.

“Sakura?” Takumi whispered, his voice barely audible.

He wanted to run and get help, but something could be happening to his sisters right now. A brief mental war ensued within his head as he debated saving his two sisters, but the thought of coming across whatever might be out there terrified him. It’s not that Takumi was scared of ghosts. A slight deathly fear was more accurate, but definitely not scared.

Pushing his fear aside, or at least somewhat ignoring it, Takumi slowly pushed himself into the dark hallway. His legs started to feel like gelatin the further he went along. Another door slammed in the distance, causing the prince to let out a short scream.

“S-Sakura? Hinoka?” Takumi cried out, his voice laced with fear.

The sound of a third door being slammed shut could be heard in the distance. Takumi’s body shook violently as he put one foot in front of the other, inching closer to the source of the noise. A fourth one soon came along and Takumi was sure it was coming from the kitchen.

When he finally reached the double doors leading to the kitchen, Takumi was ready to cry. He wasn’t sure why he was doing this alone, but it was too late to turn back now. His hands reached for the knob of one of the doors and he twisted it, bracing himself for what was inside.

Nothing jumped out at the prince when he entered the kitchen. What he saw, though, sent a chill down his spine. The kitchen was illuminated by two candles, their flames flickering back and forth. Whenever the light danced across the walls and counters, Takumi could see red handprints, similar to Hinoka’s nightgown and the note, decorating the surfaces. What really caught his eye, however, were the double doors leading to the banquet hall. The doors too had the handprints, but the hardwood surfaces were covered in them. Takumi could practically see the red liquid dripping down the doors.

“Please don’t be blood, please don’t be blood,” Takumi repeated over and over to himself. He went over to the doors, trying not to look at the handprints, and pushed it open.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary with the banquet hall. The moonlight pierced through the windows, lighting up the room. Takumi was about to walk out, until he saw who was sitting at both ends of the table. Sakura and Hinoka were both seated, their bodies hunched over lifelessly in their chairs.

“Hinoka! Sakura!” Takumi cried out, ready to run over to them. He was stopped, though, when he felt a tug on his shoulder.

Whipping around, Takumi screamed at the sight in front of him. Standing beside him was Elise, or what looked like to be her. The blonde was in her nightclothes, red splattered over her gown, a knife in her hand. Her hair was a matted mess, strands of it falling all over her body. What terrified Takumi the most, though, was her face. The young girl looked so pale and dead, black bags under her eyes and red smeared all over her face. She stared at his face listlessly, not moving an inch.

The minute she raised the arm that held the knife, Takumi ran without looking back. He made his way out of the kitchen, through the hallway, and upstairs, totally forgetting about his sisters. The Hoshidian Prince ran back to the one place he’d feel his safe. If he could make it back to his bed, then he could hide under the covers and pretend the ghosts weren’t there. If it prevented the ghosts from getting him from when he was little, it’d surely prevent them from getting him now.

When he finally reached his room, Takumi held out his hand to push open his door, which was already slightly open. However, before he could even touch it, his own door slammed shut right in front of, which was followed by a sultry cackle from the inside. That was enough for Takumi to break down and cry. The ghosts were now in his room and he was no longer safe. He had nowhere to go. Without thinking, Takumi ran off again, not exactly sure where he was going, just wanting to get away.

When she was sure he was gone, Camilla opened Takumi’s bedroom door from the inside, just in time to see Elise, Sakura, and Hinoka making their way over to her. “Did we go a little too far?”

Elise shook her head, a grin adorning her face. Clearly she was enjoying this. “Nope! You made me look super scary, Camilla! I love it!

"Well, I kind of feel bad now,” Sakura muttered to herself, guilt written all over her face.

“Poor thing must be traumatized,” Camilla said to the others. “I’m actually really surprised he thought the tomato juice was real blood.”

“Maybe we should keep an eye on him,” Hinoka told the other three, to which they agreed. The four girls ran off in the direction Takumi went in, looking for the prince in the dark hallway.

—

Leo didn’t understand why he had to share a castle with the Hoshidians. It was already bad living with his three siblings, especially his obnoxious sisters, but now he had to live with four more, not to mention their retainers as well. Things often got extremely irritating really fast and today just happened to be one of those nights.

Leo was already a light sleeper and the constant door slamming he kept hearing throughout the night wasn’t helping. He was also pretty sure he heard someone screaming and a knock at his door, but those ceased pretty quickly. Now, though, the blond could hear sobbing outside of his room.

“I swear,” Leo muttered to himself, getting out of bed.

Although it was dark in the hallway and difficult to see, Leo was shocked to see Takumi huddled on the ground by one of the castle’s potted plants. The blond was actually expecting Elise, since she’s a total crybaby.

“T-Takumi?” Leo spoke softly, stepping past his door and keeping a distance from the other prince. He didn’t want to scare him and add more to their problems.

The smaller prince immediately sat up at the familiar voice and turned to look at Leo, having not realized that the blond was standing a few feet away. Without thinking, Takumi leapt up and ran over to Leo, practically tackling the other boy and clinging onto him.

The sudden embrace caught Leo off guard and he stumbled back a bit, trying to support the added weight. “Um, is everything alright?”

“Th-This place is h-haunted,” he hiccuped into Leo’s shoulder, his voice quivering and cracking.

Leo was about to object and point out how silly the other was being, but Takumi’s violent shaking was indicative of how serious he was being. “Okay, okay, um, how about I walk you back to your room.”

Takumi shook his head, sniffling into Leo’s ear. “Nooo, they’re there.”

“Well, I-I guess you can sleep in my room,” Leo told Takumi hesitatingly. He wasn’t sure how the other would react to that. “Is that fine with you?”

Takumi just responded with a small nod.

“Okay, you’re going to have to let go of me,” Leo told the other prince, stopping when Takumi began to whine, “because I can’t move if you keep holding onto me like this. Do you want the ghosts to get us?”

At the sound of this, Takumi unwrapped his limbs from Leo’s body, but immediately grabbed Leo’s wrist, clutching on like his life depended on it. He allowed Leo to lead him into his bedroom and once they made it, Takumi rushed over to the bed, dragging Leo along with him.

“Err, I guess I’ll sleep on my chair for the night,” Leo told the other. He felt Takumi’s grip strengthen when he tried to leave, though.

“Wait, you can’t leave me! They might get me!”

“They can’t get you if they’re not real,” Leo muttered to himself, making sure Takumi couldn’t hear him. “The bed’s kind of small for the two of us, no?”

“B-But it’ll be safer for the both of us,” Takumi told him, giving Leo a pleading stare.

“But… Ugh, fine.”

Leo walked around the bed to the other side, waiting for Takumi to get comfortable. When the Hoshidian Prince was done moving, the blond lifted up the sheets and settle himself in, his back facing the other prince.

The blond could hear Takumi still sniffling, but Leo did nothing to comfort him. He just felt so awkward and didn’t know what to do to help, but he still felt bad. Leo decided to stay awake until Takumi had fallen asleep, just to keep watch for ghosts while the archer was still awake. He knew ghosts weren’t real and Takumi wouldn’t know that Leo was losing sleep for him, but the blond felt like it was something to keep the other safe.

After a while, Takumi’s breathing had relaxed and slowed, giving Leo his chance to finally close his eyes. However, he felt Takumi begin to cuddle into his back, waking Leo yet again. Sighing, Leo shifted in the bed, settling himself on his back, and rearranged his arm so that he could twirl Takumi’s hair in his fingers, hesitating at first, but continuing when the other prince just moved even closer to Leo. The blond kept playing with the silky locks, until he too fell asleep.

— 

“This is so cute.” 

Hinoka, Sakura, Camilla, and Elise were standing over Leo’s bed, staring lovingly at the two princes. The four had followed Takumi while the prince was running around the castle during the night. They were planning on telling him it was just a really bad joke, so they wouldn’t have had to admit the whole plan was to get Leo and Takumi together, but then Leo had stepped out of his bedroom, causing the four girls to jump back into hiding. They watched as Takumi practically tackled Leo and how the two went into the bedroom together, causing their imaginations to run wild. Deciding to not disturb the two, the girls chose to sleep and check back up on the younger princes early in the morning. What they found were the two tangled in the sheets together, with Leo’s arm draped over Takumi and the archer’s arms tightly wrapped around Leo’s midsection, his head resting against the blond’s chest. The two princes lightly snored in sync as the four girls gawked over them

"I think we did a pretty good job,” Hinoka told the other three, making sure not to wake the adorable sight in front of them.

“We should do this again some other time, but with other people,” Camilla told them. “I think we need to give these two a break for now.”

Sakura looked down in thought, before lifting her head and speaking. “W-Well, Ryoma is still single, I think.”

“And so is Xander!” Elise squealed with excitement.

The four girls looked at each other, before exiting the room, giggling with each other as they came up with their next plot.


End file.
